Washing machine



March 9, 1954 Filed Sept. 10, 1951 M. B. JACKSON WASHING MACHINE 3Sheets-Sheet l I NV ENTOR, Ma nscHBJock$on March 9, 1954 a. JACKSONWASHING MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 10 1951 INVENT R, MaunszllBJacKson ATT R N BY.-

March 9, 1954 v M. B. JACKSON WASHING MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 FiledSept. 10 1951 VIII/110232 INVENTQ MQ On BeH- B.Jac kson ATTORNEY.

Patented Mar. 9, 1954 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 3 Claims.

The invention relates to improvements in washing machines as describedin the present specification and shown in the accompanying drawings thatform a part of the same.

One of the main objects of the invention is to provide a washing machinewherein the operations of washing, rinsing and semi-drying ready forhanging out, are carried out successively without having to remove thearticles from the machine and without attention other than manipulationof a simple control device between the respective operations.

Another important object of the invention is to provide a machine inwhich the mechanical action is such that throughout the washingoperation the articles being washed are alternately pressed by Waterpressure against the resistance of a recticular member to force thecleansing liquid through the articles, and are then spread apart.

A further object of the invention is to provide a washing machineentirely independent of electricity, so as to preclude any of thedangers attendant upon the use of electricity with a machine with whichwater is associated.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a washing machinewhich can be operated by water under ordinary household pressure, thusmaking its use practical wherever water is available.

With the above and other objects in view the invention consists in thenovel features of construction, arrangements and combinations of partsset out in the present specification and more particularly pointed outin the claims for novelty following.

In describing the invention reference will be made to the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a vertical section of the machine on the centre line.

Figure 2 is an enlarged fragmentary plan detail, partly in horizontalsection, showing the hydraulic control valve in one of its positions.

Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 2, with the valve in anotherposition.

Figure 4 is an enlarged detail of certain parts shown in Figure 1.

Figure 5 is an enlarged detail of other parts shown in Figure 1.

Figure 6 is a horizontal section taken on the line 6-6 of Figure 1.

Figure '7 shows diagrammatically the various working positions of theparts shown in Figure 6.

Figure 8 is a partial vertical section taken on the line 88 of Figure 6.

Figures 9 and 10 show diagrammatically the washing action of the machineas compared with the usual type of washing machine.

Figure 11 is an enlarged detail of one of the parts.

Like numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in the variousfigures.

Referring now to the drawings, I is a tub shaped like a hollow cylinderclosed at the bottom by an integral plate medially and upwardly offset.Fastened to this plate, as by spot welding, is a flanged spindle 2. Thisspindle is carried by and is free to rotate in bearings and 4 which inturn are carried in a central pillar part of a main frame 5 supported onany suitable stand (not shown).

Oppositely positioned and fastened to the tub E, as by spot welding, areguides E5, 5 (see Figs. 1 and 9). The guides comprising each pair arespaced horizontally to form vertical grooves in which the free ends ofthe horizontal components of a reticular member 1 may be slid verticallybut by which they are restrained from sideways motion. The member I thusforms a moveable partition in the tub making the section thereof twoequal lunate sectors. Articles to be washed in the machine should befairly evenly divided between these sectors.

Fastened to the reticular member 7 near the bottom thereof is a strainer8. This strainer is like a broad hoop with a centralizing and stiffeningflange 9 formed on the top of it. It is pierced with numerous holes I8and is fastened to .the reticular member I only and may be lifted freelyout of the tub with the reticular member for cleaning. Though themachine is self cleaning in general this provision is made in case ofheavy grease or stains.

A cover I I suitably shaped to engage the wall of the tub provides aremovable closure for the washing chamber.

Centrally of the main frame 5 is machined an annular recess 52 (Figures1 and 4) constituting the operating cylinder of an hydraulic clutch. Inthis recess I2 is mounted, and free to slide vertically therein, themale part of the clutch (Figure 5) consisting of a hollow cylindricalbody I3 having two oppositely disposed slots I4, I4 machined in thebottom thereof, and a flanged top 55 formed on the end of the bodyremote from the slots.

In holes bored in the walls of the recess I2 are fixed two pins It, ISwhich register with the respective slots It in the body I3 when the bodyis in working position in the recess I2. These pins permit the body tomove vertically in the recess but prevent rotation therein.

A plurality of vanes H are secured to the bottom of the tub near theedge thereof in evenly spaced relationship around the bottom. They arepositioned and curved in such a manner and direction that a jet of waterapplied thereagainst in the direction of the arrow in Figure 6 willcause rotation of the tub counter-clockwise.

Made integral of the central pillar of the main frame is a casing $8 fora distributing valve. This casing is in the form of a projection or lugon the central pillar. It is concentrically bored with two diameters ofholes to receive the rotating part of the valve consisting of a. plugI9. This plug is cruciform in section, is pierced with relief or wasteholes 2| and 22, and has loosely fastened on the top an operating lever33 (Figures 1 and 4). A'concentrically bored top 23 fastened to thecasing, as by cap screws, provides a closure for the casing and abearing for the upper stem 29 of the plug IS). The bearing for the lowerstem is made integral to the casing.

The casing has in it three holes 23, 24 and 25. The hole 23 is tapped tobe connected to a source of water under pressure from a main supply pipe26. The hole 24 is tapped to be connected in series to a nipple 42, a T43, a nipple 44 and an elbow 45 (Figures 6 and 8). Into this elbow 45 isscrewed a pipe 21 which crosses under the frame 5, turns up inside thewall of said frame and ends in an orifice 28. i

This combination of piping from the inside of the casing Hi to theorifice 28 will hereinafter be referred to as the orifice feed line.

Hydraulically connected to this orifice feed line by the nipple 46,elbow 48 and nipple 41 is the casing 49 for a latch mechanism consistingof a plunger 50 having integrally formed on it a sear and a stem 52. Acoil spring 53 normally keeps the plunger down, as shown in full linesin Figure 8, and pressure from the orifice feed line coming up through ahole in a diaphragm 56 when the tub is being rotated raises the plungerovercoming the spring 53.

39 is a machined extension on the bottom of the casing l8. Thisextension serves as a bearing about which a lever 38 may be manuallyswung through an angle of about 9 degrees, as shown in Figures 6 and '7.The lever carries a padded post orstop 31 against which the lever 30swings as urged by the spring 3|.

32 is a curved member pivoted on a pin 33, the pin being attached to thebottom of the tub I and revolving with it. On one end of the member 32is formed a weight 34 and on the other end is formed a sear 35. A slot36 made in the weight 34 co-operates with a pin 4| fastened to thebottom of the tub to limit the rocking motion of the The R. P. M.necessary to cause the weight to assume this last mentioned outwardmovement is dependent on the stiffness of the spring 49 which isadjustable in this respect by an adjusting screw 60.. The more the screw69 is turned up the greater this R. P. M. will be. The effect of thisvariation in R. P. M. will be explained hereinafter.

' 62 is a centrifugally openable closure which is held shut by a. spring63 as shown in full lines in Figure 1 until a predetermined R. P. M. isreached when it flies open as shown in dotted lines in the same figure.

The technique of washing is:

Assuming the disposition of the parts to be as shown in Figures 1, 2, 4,6 and 8, that is- The lever 38 and the stop 31 are in their extremeright position (Figure 6), the lever 30 is resting against the stop 31being urged thereto by the spring 3|, the plug l9 being as shown inFigure 2 thereby providing a free passage for water from the supply pipe26 into the casing l8 wherein it will pass over and under the plug andout of the piping system herein known as the orifice feed line to issuefrom the orifice 28 in the direction of the arrow and impinging thevanes ll 4 begin to turn the tub and contents thereof in acounter-clockwise direction.

The weight 34 on the curved member 32 will at this low R. P. M. be urgedby the spring 40 in against the pin 4|, and the path of the point of thesear (the arc A-A in Figure 6) will clear the end of the lever 30.

The hydraulic brake operating cylinder |2 being vented through therelief holes 2 I, 22 and 25, the flanged top of the body will be asshown in full lines in Figure 1 and the brake will not be offering anyresistance to rotation.

Since there is pressure in the orifice feed line there will also bepressure in the casing 49 under the plunger 50, and this pressure willraise the plunger up into the position shown in dotted lines in Figure8, as hereinbefore explained, and the sear 5| will be showing above thetop of the casing 49.

The pressure of the jet from the orifice 28 against the vanes willcontinue to increase the R. P. M. of the tub until the point is reachedwhen centrifugal force acting on the weight 34 pulls the curved member32 round about the pivot 33against the push of the spring until stoppedby the outer end of the slot 36 contacting the pin 4| (Figure 7). Whenthis occurs the path of the sear 35 (the arc BB in Figure 6) will engagethe free end of the lever 30 and overswing it to the right into anindeterminate position such as that shown dotted in Figure 7 andidentified by the letter E.

The lever 30 being loosely carried on the plug IS the free end of thelever will during this overswinging operation pass up the slope of thesear 5| and drop down behind the point of it. The sear 35 will disengagethe lever 36 and the spring 3| will bring the lever back against thepoint of the sear 5|. This position of the lever is shown in full linesin Figure '7.

With the lever 30 in this position the plug I9 will be as shown inFigure 3, the orifice feed lines will be vented through the relief holes2| and 22 and the pressure therein will drop to zero. The water in thecasing 49 under the plunger 50 will begin to leak out at a ratedepending on the diameter of the hole in the diaphragm 56 and thestrength of the spring 53, and the sear 5| will begin to drop. Anappreciable time will however elapse between the moment the lever 30came to rest against the sear 5| and the moment the sear dropscompletely below the top of the casing releasing the lever to bereturned to its starting position as shown in Figure 6, when the cyclewill re-commence.

During this period when the plug I9 is being held as shown in Figure 3the water under pressure in the casing I8 has a free passage through therelief hole 25 into the operating cylinder |2 of the hydraulic brakeforcing the body |3 and the flanged top l5 up until the parts assume thepositions shown in dotted lines in Figure 1 and bringing the tub to anabrupt stop. The lever 30 is now released to return to its startingposition and rotation of the tub re-commences.

This alternate starting-always in the same direction of rotation-andabruptly stopping constitutes the washing cycle.

The vigor of the washing depends greatly on the R. P. M. of the tub whenbrought to a stop, and as hereinbefore stated this depends on the amountof adjustment of the spring 4|) so when such articles as are delicate instructure and not normally very dirty when washed, for example lingerie,are in the tub the spring 40 should be weakened by turning the adjustingscrew 69 back when the washing action will be a gentle surge which willnot harm the most delicate articles. When sturdy, very soiled articlesare in the tub the adjusting screw should be turned up. This washingspeed, however, must never be great enough to open the centrifugalclosure 62.

The technique of damp drying is:

The lever 33 is pushed over to the left, through about 9 degrees, asshown in Figure 7, carrying the padded stop 3'! with it. Now when in thecourse of the washing cycle the lever 36 is released from the sear 5iand is returned by the spring 3i against the stop 3? it will lie out ofreach of the sear 35 even when the sear is at its inmost position, asshown in Figure 7. Thus the braking or stopping portion of the washingcycle is inhibited but the rotating portion-the impinging oi thevanes-is continued resulting in an increase of R. P. M. over thatrequired for washing and the acceleration will continue until the R. P.M. becomes great enough to open the centrifugal closure 69. When thishappens the fluid in. the tub will be ejected by centrifugal force andthe clothes dried.

The effect and the advantages of this starting and stopping cycle in onedirection of motion is illustrated in Figures 9 and 10 and may beexplained as follows.

In Figure 9 the tub has just been abruptly stopped from rotationcounter-clockwise. When this stopping occurred the suds in the tub ofcourse did not stop immediately but flushed the clothes forward againstthe now stationary reticular member I and compacted them into the lefthalf of the upper sector, and the right half of the lower sector. Thiscompacting is diagrammatically shown by the thickening of the ends ofthe hatching lines indicating the clothes; where the ends are thickenedthere is compacting, and where the ends are thin there is disper- S1011.

Thus the portions of the clothes marked A in this Figure 9 have had aconsiderable part of their suds squeezed out of them, while the portionsmarked B have been dispersed and supersaturated.

Continuing the one direction of rotation cycle, the tub now re-commencesto rotate counterclockwise and speeds up until the hereinbeforementioned critical R. P. M. is reached.

In doing this speeding up the reticular memher-which presents a minimumof resistance to the water in the tub-strikes the dispersed portions ofthe clothes marked B thrusting them before it and compacting them, andat the same time drawing sharply away from the portions marked A, whichwere compacted against it, and dispersing them. Thus in this speeding upof the reticular member part of the cycle those portions which werecompacted have been dispersed and those which were dispersed have beencompacted.

The brake now goes on bringing the tub and contents to an abrupt stopand the cycle re-commences, and it is plain that there have been in thecourse of the cycle two pairs of dispersions and compactings of theclothes.

The condition of compacting on speeding up is diagrammatically shown inFigure 10, the tub and contents are now rotating at the critical R. P.M. immediately preceding stopping.

Now consider what would be the effect of reversing the direction ofrotation each time the tub was started from rest.

Assuming as before the tub to have been just stopped from rotationcounter-clockwise. That is that conditions are as shown in Figure 9. Andassume that rotation is being resumed but this time in a clockwisedirection. The reticular member in speeding up would not as beforestrike dispersed clothes compacting them but would find alreadycompacted clothes pressed against it and there would be no pair ofdispersions and compactings on bringing the tub up to speed, though ofcourse the pair of dispersions and compactings on stopping the tub wouldstill obtain.

This argument may perhaps be put more clearly this way:

Any starting and stopping washing cycle will give a dispersing andstopping once per cycle but, if the starting is always in the samedirection of rotation there will be two dispersings and stoppingsinstead of one.

While I have herein shown and described a preferred arrangement, it willbe readily understood that changes and modifications therein may befound desirable or essential in meeting the various exigencies of use,and I desire to be understood as reserving the right to make any and allsuch changes or modifications as may be found desirable or essential inso far as the same may fall within the spirit and scope of the inventionas expressed in the accompanying claims when broadly construed.

What I claim is:

1. A washing machine including a unidirectionally rotatable receptacleadapted to contain washing fluid and articles to be washed therein, afriction brake adapted to bring the said unidirectional rotation to anabrupt stop, and automatic means for periodically applying the saidfriction brake whereby the washing of the articles in the machine may beaccomplished.

2. A washing machine including, a unidirectionally rotatable receptacleadapted to contain washing fluid and articles to be washed therein, afriction brake adapted to bring the said unidirectional rotation to anabrupt stop, and adjustable automatic means for periodically applyingthe said friction brake whereby the washing of the articles in themaching may be accomplished.

3. A washing and semi-drying machine, including a receptacle adapted tocontain washing fluid and articles to be washed and semi-dried thereinnormally unidirectionally rotated at a high turning speed whereby thereceptacle may be emptied of the said washing fluid and the articlestherein be semi-dried, and a friction brake adapted to be periodicallyapplied to the turning receptacle whereby the high unidirectionalturning speed of the receptacle may be intermittently checked and theWashing of the articles therein accomplished.

MAUNSELL B. JACKSON.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 1,580,778 Coverstone Apr. 13, 1926 1,611,895 Dienner Dec. 28,1926 1,688,031 Altorfer Oct. 16, 1928 1,869,510 Saunders Aug. 2, 19322,273,566 Faber Feb. 17, 1942 2,344,253 Kirby Mar. 14, 1944 2,444,018Deloghia June 22, 1948 2,592,596 Pengelly Apr. 15, 1952

